Fear of Fifty

An irreverent mid-life autobiography by the woman who was catapulted to international fame in 1973 with the publication of "Fear of Flying". Her memoir begins on her 50th birthday and works backwards. Jong addresses the problems of being a woman of the "whiplash generation", which saw its expectations raised and dashed and raised and dashed again. She describes with characteristic candour and shocking insight what it means to be one of that generation of women who were brought up to be Doris Day, came of age wanting to be Gloria Steinem, and have had to bring up daughters in the age of Princess Di, Nancy Reagan and Madonna. Social and sexual mores were constantly changing; at every stage she felt she had no choice but to be a pioneer, to push out the boundaries. In many ways Jong is typical of that fiftysomething generation, but in so many others the author of "Fear of Flying" will always be different.